Executive Education

This note introduces the concept of teaching in executive-education classes and how it might be different from or similar to teaching in MBA classrooms. Intended primarily for a doctoral seminar on pedagogy, the note would also be appropriate for instructors wishing to examine their teaching style or to teach in executive education classes. Excerpt UVA-PHA-0053 EXECUTIVE EDUCATION Executive education is big business. By the early 1980s the executive education industry in the United States was over $ 30 billion annually (Figure 1). Everywhere, consultants and business school faculty are offering educational courses for people who already work. More and more companies are hiring and maintaining internal training departments to offer courses for employees. In the belief that ongoing training is essential for upgrading the skills and abilities of their employees in the turbulent change-oriented environment of the 1990s, some companies, like IBM, even require a certain number of educational days each year. Figure 1. Estimated costs of U.S. education in 1984. Anthony Carnevale, Training and Development Journal (January 1986): 18. Executive, or management, education broadly includes any educational activity that features working people as partici­pants. In this sense, it is really more accurately “continuing education,” but many institutions refer to it as executive education to add a sense of class and to avoid snubbing—in any way—those who attend. Executive education students continue to work while they further their educations. Participants pay to attend executive education courses, though the steep fees are often paid by their employers. Course costs vary from school to school but can range up to $ 15,000 per participant per week. Executive education programs vary widely in length as well. Courses may last only a half day on specialized topics or up to a year when a broad general management focus is taken. Intermediate courses abound that last three days, one week, two weeks, six weeks and 13 weeks. From a school's point of view, part of the strategy of marketing these courses is choosing the length that fits the topic and the tolerance of the marketplace. If the course is too short, participants will feel they did not learn enough about the subject. If the course is too long, potential participants may not come because they cannot be away from work that long. . . .